Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
DATA LINEAGE SUMMARIZATION
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to U.S. Application Serial No. 62/028,485,
filed
on July 24, 2014; and to U.S. Application Serial No. 62/114,684, filed on
February 11,
2015.
io BACKGROUND
This description relates to summarization in data lineage diagrams.
In data processing systems it is often desirable for certain types of users to
have
access to a visual representation of a lineage of data as it passes through
the systems.
Such "data lineage diagrams" can include graphical representations of data and
entities
in the system for processing that data and dependency relationships among
them. Very
generally, among a number of uses, such data lineage diagrams can be used to
reduce
risk, verify regulatory compliance obligations, streamline business processes,
and
safeguard data. It is
important that data lineage diagrams are both correct and
complete.
Some systems capable of generating and displaying data lineage diagrams are
able to automatically present an end-to-end data lineage diagram showing
representations of data items and the items representing processing entities
that
consume or generate those data items. A path upstream from a particular item
is
sometimes called a "dependency analysis" for that item, and a path downstream
from a
particular item is sometimes called an "impact analysis" for that item. As
used herein,
a "data lineage diagram" may include an upstream dependency analysis and/or a
downstream impact analysis relative to any given item. Some systems capable of
generating and displaying data lineage diagrams allow users to collapse
logical and/or
physical groups of items in a data lineage diagram into a single element. Some
systems
capable of generating and displaying data lineage diagrams are able to enhance
data
lineage diagrams with enriched data information such as data quality scoring.
SUMMARY
In one aspect, there is provided a method for managing data lineage
information in a
computing system, the method including: receiving, over an input
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device or port, an identification of a directed data lineage graph that
includes one or
more data transformation nodes that represent computations performed by the
computing system that receive data as input, transform the received data, and
produce
the transformed data as output, and one or more data nodes that represent data
including
the data received as input and the data produced as output, and includes
directed links
lo that represent respective data lineage relationships between a
computation and data to
be received or produced by the computation during execution of the
computation; and
computing, using at least one processor, summary information based on paths in
the
directed data lineage graph, and storing the summary information in one or
more
summary objects, the computing including receiving designation of interest for
a
plurality of the nodes of the directed data lineage graph; and generating one
or more
summary objects for remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of
interest,
a first summary object of the one or more summary objects including summary
information based on a first path between a first node of interest and a
second node of
interest that does include one or more of the remaining nodes and does not
include any
nodes of interest other than the first and second nodes; wherein generating
the first
summary object includes traversing the first path between the first node of
interest and
the second node of interest to identify one or more remaining nodes that are
not
designated as being of interest along the first path, and forming the summary
information for the identified one or more remaining nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium
having
a software stored thereon , for managing lineage information in a computing
system,
the software including instructions for causing the computing system to:
receive, over
an input device or port, an identification of a directed data lineage graph
that includes
one or more data transformation nodes that represent computations performed by
the
computing system that receive data as input, transform the received data, and
produce
the transformed data as output, and one or more data nodes that represent data
including
the data received as input and the data produced as output, and includes
directed links
that represent respective data lineage relationships between a computation and
data to
be received or produced by the computation during execution of the
computation; and
compute, using at least one processor, summary information based on paths in
the
directed data lineage graph, and storing
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the summary information in one or more summary objects, the computing
including
receiving designation of interest for a plurality of the nodes of the directed
data lineage
graph; and generating one or more summary objects for remaining nodes not
included
in the plurality of nodes of interest, a first summary object of the one or
more summary
objects including summary information based on a first path between a first
node of
interest and a second node of interest that does include one or more of the
remaining
nodes and does not include any nodes of interest other than the first and
second nodes
wherein generating the first summary object includes traversing the first path
between
the first node of interest and the second node of interest to identify one or
more
remaining nodes that are not designated as being of interest along the first
path, and
forming the summary information for the identified one or more remaining
nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a computing system for managing lineage
information in a computing system, the computing system including: an input
device
or port for receiving an identification of a directed data lineage graph that
includes one
or more data transformation nodes that represent computations performed by the
computing system that receive data as input, transform the received data, and
produce
the transformed data as output, and one or more data nodes that represent data
including
the data received as input and the data produced as output, and includes
directed links
that represent respective data lineage relationships between a computation and
data to
be received or produced by the computation during execution of the
computation; and
at least one processor for computing summary information based on paths in the
directed data lineage graph, and storing the summary information in one or
more
summary objects, the computing including receiving designation of interest for
a
plurality of the nodes of the directed data lineage graph; and generating one
or more
summary objects for remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of
interest,
a first summary object of the one or more summary objects including summary
information based on a first path between a first node of interest and a
second node of
interest that does include one or more of the remaining nodes and does not
include any
nodes of interest other than the first and second nodes; wherein generating
the first
summary object includes traversing the first path between the first node of
interest and
the second node of interest to identify one or more
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remaining nodes that are not designated as being of interest along the first
path, and
forming the summary information for the identified one or more remaining
nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a computing system for managing lineage
information in a computing system, the computing system including: means for
receiving an identification of a directed data lineage graph that includes one
or more
to data transformation nodes that represent computations performed by the
computing
system that receive data as input, transform the received data, and produce
the
transformed data as output, and one or more data nodes that represent data
including
the data received as input and the data produced as output, and includes
directed links
that represent respective data lineage relationships between a computation and
data to
be received or produced by the computation during execution of the
computation; and
means for computing summary information based on paths in the directed data
lineage
graph, and storing the summary information in one or more summary objects, the
computing including receiving designation of interest for a plurality of the
nodes of the
directed data lineage graph; and generating one or more summary objects for
remaining
nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of interest, a first summary
object of the
one or more summary objects including summary information based on a first
path
between a first node of interest and a second node of interest that does
include one or
more of the remaining nodes and does not include any nodes of interest other
than the
first and second nodes; wherein generating the first summary object includes
traversing
the first path between the first node of interest and the second node of
interest to identify
one or more remaining nodes that are not designated as being of interest along
the first
path, and forming the summary information for the identified one or more
remaining
nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a method for managing lineage information
in a
computing system, the method including:
receiving, over an input device or port, an identification of a directed graph
that includes one or more data nodes that represent data elements, and
includes directed links between data nodes that represent respective
lineage relationships between data elements that are received and
produced, respectively, by a computation during execution of the
computation, or directed links between data nodes and data
transformation nodes that represent computations that transform data
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elements, where the directed links between data nodes and data transformation
nodes represent respective lineage relationships between a computation
and a data element to be received or produced by the computation during
execution of the computation; and
computing, using at least one processor, display information based on paths
over directed links in the directed graph and hierarchical container
relationships among nodes in the directed graph, and using the display
information to generate a data lineage diagram as a visual representation
of at least portions of the directed graph, the computing including:
traversing nodes along the paths over directed links in the directed graph and
determining one or more of the nodes of the directed graph to exclude
from the data lineage diagram based at least in part on any tag identifiers
or tag values associated with traversed nodes, where at least one of the
traversed nodes is associated with one or more tag identifiers of a
plurality of tag identifiers, and at least one tag identifier of the plurality
of tag identifiers has a plurality of possible tag values;
receiving designation of interest for a plurality of the nodes of the directed
graph;
generating one or more summary objects included in the display information
for one or more remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes
of interest and not excluded based on the traversing, a first summary
object of the one or more summary objects including summary
information based on a first path over directed links in the directed graph
between a first node of interest and a second node of interest; and
generating one or more container objects included in the display
information according to the hierarchical container relationships among
the nodes, where each container object is able to be represented both by
both a collapsed visual representation in the data lineage diagram, and
an expanded visual representation in the data lineage diagram that
contains visual representations of at least one of: (1) one or more data
transformation nodes or data nodes, (2) one or more summary objects,
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or (3) one or more container objects; wherein generating the first summary
object includes traversing the first path between the first node of interest
and the second node of interest to identify one or more remaining nodes
that are not designated as being of interest along the first path, and
forming the summary information for the identified one or more
remaining nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium
having
a software stored thereon, for managing lineage information in a computing
system, the
software including instructions for causing a computing system to: receive,
over an
input device or port, an identification of a directed graph that includes one
or more data
nodes that represent data elements, and includes directed links between data
nodes that
represent respective lineage relationships between data elements that are
received and
produced, respectively, by a computation during execution of the computation,
or
directed links between data nodes and data transformation nodes that represent
computations that transform data elements, where the directed links between
data nodes
and data transformation nodes represent respective lineage relationships
between a
computation and a data element to be received or produced by the computation
during
execution of the computation; and compute, using at least one processor,
display
information based on paths over directed links in the directed graph and
hierarchical
container relationships among nodes in the directed graph, and using the
display
information to generate a data lineage diagram as a visual representation of
at least
portions of the directed graph, the computing including: traversing nodes
along the
paths over directed links in the directed graph and determining one or more of
the nodes
of the directed graph to exclude from the data lineage diagram based at least
in part on
any tag identifiers or tag values associated with traversed nodes, where at
least one of
the traversed nodes is associated with one or more tag identifiers of a
plurality of tag
identifiers, and at least one tag identifier of the plurality of tag
identifiers has a plurality
of possible tag values; receiving designation of interest for a plurality of
the nodes of
the directed graph; generating one or more summary objects included in the
display
information for one or more remaining nodes not included in the plurality of
nodes of
interest and not excluded based on the traversing, a first summary object of
the one or
more summary objects including summary information based on a first path over
directed links in the directed graph between a first node of
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interest and a second node of interest; and generating one or more container
objects
included in the display information according to the hierarchical container
relationships
among the nodes, where each container object is able to be represented both by
both a
collapsed visual representation in the data lineage diagram, and an expanded
visual
representation in the data lineage diagram that contains visual
representations of at least
to .. one of: (1) one or more data transformation nodes or data nodes, (2) one
or more
summary objects, or (3) one or more container objects; wherein generating the
first
summary object includes traversing the first path between the first node of
interest and
the second node of interest to identify one or more remaining nodes that are
not
designated as being of interest along the first path, and forming the summary
.. information for the identified one or more remaining nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a computing system for managing lineage
information in a computing system, the computing system including: an input
device
or port for receiving an identification of a directed graph that includes one
or more data
nodes that represent data elements, and includes directed links between data
nodes that
.. represent respective lineage relationships between data elements that are
received and
produced, respectively, by a computation during execution of the computation,
or
directed links between data nodes and data transformation nodes that represent
computations that transform data elements, where the directed links between
data nodes
and data transformation nodes represent respective lineage relationships
between a
computation and a data element to be received or produced by the computation
during
execution of the computation; and at least one processor for computing display
information based on paths over directed links in the directed graph and
hierarchical
container relationships among nodes in the directed graph, and using the
display
information to generate a data lineage diagram as a visual representation of
at least
portions of the directed graph, the computing including: traversing nodes
along the
paths over directed links in the directed graph and determining one or more of
the nodes
of the directed graph to exclude from the data lineage diagram based at least
in part on
any tag identifiers or tag values associated with traversed nodes, where at
least one of
the traversed nodes is associated with one or more tag identifiers of a
plurality of tag
identifiers, and at least one tag identifier of the plurality of tag
identifiers has a plurality
of possible tag values; receiving designation of interest for a plurality of
the nodes of
the directed graph; generating one or more summary objects included in the
display
information
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Date Recue/Date Received 2021-02-24
for one or more remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of
interest and
not excluded based on the traversing, a first summary object of the one or
more
summary objects including summary information based on a first path over
directed
links in the directed graph between a first node of interest and a second node
of interest;
and generating one or more container objects included in the display
information
to according to the hierarchical container relationships among the nodes,
where each
container object is able to be represented both by both a collapsed visual
representation
in the data lineage diagram, and an expanded visual representation in the data
lineage
diagram that contains visual representations of at least one of: (1) one or
more data
transformation nodes or data nodes, (2) one or more summary objects, or (3)
one or
.. more container objects; wherein generating the first summary object
includes traversing
the first path between the first node of interest and the second node of
interest to identify
one or more remaining nodes that are not designated as being of interest along
the first
path, and forming the summary information for the identified one or more
remaining
nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a computing system for managing lineage
information in a computing system, the computing system including: means for
receiving an identification of a directed graph that includes one or more data
nodes that
represent data elements, and includes directed links between data nodes that
represent
respective lineage relationships between data elements that are received and
produced,
.. respectively, by a computation during execution of the computation, or
directed links
between data nodes and data transformation nodes that represent computations
that
transform data elements, where the directed links between data nodes and data
transformation nodes represent respective lineage relationships between a
computation
and a data element to be received or produced by the computation during
execution of
the computation; and means for computing, using at least one processor,
display
information based on paths over directed links in the directed graph and
hierarchical
container relationships among nodes in the directed graph, and using the
display
information to generate a data lineage diagram as a visual representation of
at least
portions of the directed graph, the computing including: traversing nodes
along the
paths over directed links in the directed graph and determining one or more of
the nodes
of the directed graph to exclude from the data lineage diagram based at least
in part on
any tag identifiers or tag values associated with traversed nodes, where at
least one of
the traversed nodes is
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associated with one or more tag identifiers of a plurality of tag identifiers,
and at least
one tag identifier of the plurality of tag identifiers has a plurality of
possible tag values;
receiving designation of interest for a plurality of the nodes of the directed
graph;
generating one or more summary objects included in the display information for
one or
more remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of interest and
not excluded
to based on the
traversing, a first summary object of the one or more summary objects
including summary information based on a first path over directed links in the
directed
graph between a first node of interest and a second node of interest; and
generating one
or more container objects included in the display information according to the
hierarchical container relationships among the nodes, where each container
object is
able to be represented both by both a collapsed visual representation in the
data lineage
diagram, and an expanded visual representation in the data lineage diagram
that
contains visual representations of at least one of: (1) one or more data
transformation
nodes or data nodes, (2) one or more summary objects, or (3) one or more
container
objects; wherein generating the first summary object includes traversing the
first path
between the first node of interest and the second node of interest to identify
one or more
remaining nodes that are not designated as being of interest along the first
path, and
forming the summary information for the identified one or more remaining
nodes.
In another aspect, there is provided a method for managing lineage information
in a
computing system, the method including:
receiving, over an input device or port, an identification of a directed graph
that includes one or more data nodes that represent data elements, and
includes directed links between data nodes that represent respective
lineage relationships between data elements that are received and
produced, respectively, by a computation during execution of the
computation, or directed links between data nodes and data
transformation nodes that represent computations that transform data
elements, where the directed links between data nodes and data
transformation nodes represent respective lineage relationships between
a computation and a data element to be received or produced by the
computation during execution of the computation; and
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Date Recue/Date Received 2021-02-24
computing, using at least one processor, display information based on paths
over directed links in the directed graph and hierarchical container
relationships among nodes in the directed graph, and using the display
information to generate a data lineage diagram as a visual representation
of at least portions of the directed graph, the computing including:
traversing nodes along the paths over directed links in the directed graph and
determining one or more of the nodes of the directed graph to exclude
from the data lineage diagram based at least in part on any tag identifiers
or tag values associated with traversed nodes, where at least one of the
traversed nodes is associated with one or more tag identifiers of a
plurality of tag identifiers, and at least one tag identifier of the plurality
of tag identifiers has a plurality of possible tag values;
receiving a designation of interest for a plurality of the nodes of the
directed
graph;
generating one or more summary objects included in the display information
for one or more remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes
of interest and not excluded based on the traversing, a first summary
object of the one or more summary objects including summary
information based on a first path over directed links in the directed graph
between a first node of interest and a second node of interest; and
generating one or more container objects included in the display information
according to the hierarchical container relationships among the nodes,
where each container object is able to be represented by both a collapsed
visual representation in the data lineage diagram, and an expanded visual
representation in the data lineage diagram that contains visual
representations of at least one of: (1) one or more data transformation
nodes or data nodes, (2) one or more summary objects, or (3) one or
more container objects.
In another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium
having
a software stored thereon, for managing lineage information, the software
including
instructions for causing a
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computer system: to receive, over an input device or port, an identification
of a directed
graph that includes one or more data nodes that represent data elements and
includes
directed links between data nodes that represent respective lineage
relationships
between data elements that are received and produced, respectively, by a
computation
during execution of the computation or directed links between data nodes and
data
to transformation nodes that represent computations that transform data
elements, wherein
the directed links between data nodes and data transformation nodes represent
respective lineage relationships between a computation and a data element to
be
received or produced by the computation during execution of the computation,
to
compute, using at least one processor, display information based on paths over
directed
links in the directed graph and hierarchical container relationships among
nodes in the
directed graph, and to use the display information to generate a data lineage
diagram as
a visual representation of at least portions of the directed graph: wherein
the instructions
for causing the computing system to compute the display information include
instructions for causing the computing system to traverse nodes along the
paths over
directed links in the directed graph and determining one or more of the nodes
of the
directed graph to exclude from the data lineage diagram based at least in part
on any
tag identifiers or tag values associated with traversed nodes, wherein at
least one of the
traversed nodes is associated with one or more tag identifiers of a plurality
of tag
identifiers and at least one tag identifier of the plurality of tag
identifiers has a plurality
of possible tag values; to receive receiving a designation of interest for a
plurality of
the nodes of the directed graph; to generate one or more summary objects
included in
the display information for one or more remaining nodes not included in the
plurality
of nodes of interest and not excluded based on having traversed the nodes,
wherein a
first summary object of the one or more summary objects includes summary
information based on a first path over directed links in the directed graph
between a
first node of interest and a second node of interest; and to generate one or
more
container objects included in the display information according to the
hierarchical
container relationships among the nodes, wherein each container object is able
to be
represented by both a collapsed visual representation in the data lineage
diagram and
an expanded visual representation in the data lineage diagram that contains
visual
representations of at least one of: (1) one or more data transformation nodes
or data
nodes, (2) one or more summary objects, or (3) one or more container objects.
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In another aspect, there is provided a computing system for managing lineage
information, the computing system including an input device or port for
receiving an
identification of a directed graph that includes one or more data nodes that
represent
data elements and that includes directed links between data nodes that
represent
respective lineage relationships between data elements that are received and
produced,
to respectively, by a computation during execution of the computation or
directed links
between data nodes and data transformation nodes that represent computations
that
transform data elements, wherein the directed links between data nodes and
data
transformation nodes represent respective lineage relationships between a
computation
and a data element to be received or produced by the computation during
execution of
.. the computation, wherein the computing system further includes at least one
processor
for computing display information based on paths over directed links in the
directed
graph and hierarchical container relationships among nodes in the directed
graph and
using the display information to generate a data lineage diagram as a visual
representation of at least portions of the directed graph, wherein computing
the display
information includes traversing nodes along the paths over directed links in
the directed
graph and determining one or more of the nodes of the directed graph to
exclude from
the data lineage diagram based at least in part on any tag identifiers or tag
values
associated with traversed nodes and wherein at least one of the traversed
nodes is
associated with one or more tag identifiers of a plurality of tag identifiers
and at least
one tag identifier of the plurality of tag identifiers has a plurality of
possible tag values,
receiving a designation-of-interest for a plurality of the nodes of the
directed graph,
generating one or more summary objects included in the display information for
one or
more remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of interest and
not excluded
based on having traversed the nodes, 7 wherein a first summary object of the
one or
more summary objects includes summary information based on a first path over
directed links in the directed graph between a first node of interest and a
second node
of interest, and generating one or more container objects included in the
display
information according to the hierarchical container relationships among the
nodes,
wherein each container object is able to be represented by both a collapsed
visual
representation in the data lineage diagram and an expanded visual
representation in the
data lineage diagram that contains visual representations of at least one of:
(1) one or
more data transformation nodes or data nodes, (2) one or more summary objects,
or (3)
one or more container objects.
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In another aspect, there is provided a computing system for managing lineage
information, the computing system including an input device or port for
receiving an
identification of a directed graph that includes one or more data nodes that
represent
data elements and that includes directed links between data nodes that
represent
respective lineage relationships between data elements that are received and
produced,
to .. respectively, by a computation during execution of the computation or
directed links
between data nodes and data transformation nodes that represent computations
that
transform data elements, wherein the directed links between data nodes and
data
transformation nodes represent respective lineage relationships between a
computation
and a data element to be received or produced by the computation during
execution of
the computation, wherein the computing system further includes at least one
processor
for computing display information based on paths over directed links in the
directed
graph and hierarchical container relationships among nodes in the directed
graph and
using the display information to generate a data lineage diagram as a visual
representation of at least portions of the directed graph, wherein computing
the display
information includes traversing nodes along the paths over directed links in
the directed
graph and determining one or more of the nodes of the directed graph to
exclude from
the data lineage diagram based at least in part on any tag identifiers or tag
values
associated with traversed nodes and wherein at least one of the traversed
nodes is
associated with one or more tag identifiers of a plurality of tag identifiers
and at least
one tag identifier of the plurality of tag identifiers has a plurality of
possible tag values,
receiving a designation-of-interest for a plurality of the nodes of the
directed graph,
generating one or more summary objects included in the display information for
one or
more remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of interest and
not excluded
based on having traversed the nodes, 7 wherein a first summary object of the
one or
more summary objects includes summary information based on a first path over
directed links in the directed graph between a first node of interest and a
second node
of interest, and generating one or more container objects included in the
display
information according to the hierarchical container relationships among the
nodes,
wherein each container object is able to be represented by both a collapsed
visual
.. representation in the data lineage diagram and an expanded visual
representation in the
data lineage diagram that contains visual representations of at least one of:
(1) one or
more data transformation nodes or data nodes, (2) one or more summary objects,
or (3)
one or more container objects.
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Date Recue/Date Received 2021-02-24
In another aspect, a method for managing lineage information in a computing
system
includes: receiving, over an input device or port, an identification
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Date Recue/Date Received 2021-02-24
CA 02956078 2017-01-23
WO 2016/014615 PCT/US2015/041452
of a directed graph that includes one or more data transformation nodes that
represent
computations that transform data elements and one or more data nodes that
represent
data elements, and includes directed links that represent respective lineage
relationships between a computation and a data element to be received or
produced by
the computation during execution of the computation; and computing, using at
least
one processor, summary information based on paths in the directed graph, and
storing
the summary information in one or more summary objects, the computing
including
receiving designation of interest for a plurality of the nodes of the directed
graph; and
generating one or more summary objects for remaining nodes not included in the
plurality of nodes of interest, a first summary object of the one or more
summary
objects including summary information based on a first path between a first
node of
interest and a second node of interest that does include one or more of the
remaining
nodes and does not include any nodes of interest other than the first and
second nodes.
Aspects can include one or more of the following features.
Generating the first summary object includes traversing the first path between
the first node of interest and the second node of interest to identify one or
more
remaining nodes that are not designated as being of interest along the first
path, and
forming the summary information for the identified one or more remaining
nodes.
The method further includes generating a data lineage diagram as a visual
representation of at least portions of the directed graph, in which each node
designated as being of interest is represented by its own icon, and a
plurality of the
remaining nodes are represented by a common icon connected to a plurality of
nodes
of interest according to summary information stored in one or more of the
summary
objects.
The method further includes receiving a user input indicative of a user's
desire
to view details associated with the common icon and, in response to the user
input,
traversing the plurality of remaining nodes represented by the common icon and
visually representing the remaining nodes in the data lineage diagram based on
the
traversal of paths of the directed graph including the plurality of remaining
nodes
associated with the summary information.
The method further includes receiving a designation of one of the one or more
data transformation nodes or one of the one or more data nodes as a target
node,
wherein generating the data lineage diagram includes traversing one or more
paths
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through the directed graph, each path of the one or more paths including two
or more
nodes of interest and the target node.
For at least some of the one or more paths through the directed graph,
traversing the path includes traversing a first portion of the path in an
upstream
direction from the target node and traversing a second portion of the path in
a
downstream direction from the target node.
Traversing the first portion of the path includes determining whether the
target
node is marked as being a node of interest, and if the target node is
determined to be a
node of interest, traversing a link corresponding to a summary object
associated with
the target node from the target node to a first upstream node of interest,
otherwise if
the target node is not determined to be a node of interest, traversing an
original path
of the directed graph between the target node and the first upstream node of
interest,
including traversing one or more data transformation nodes or data nodes that
are not
designated as being of interest.
Traversing the first portion of the path further includes traversing a link
corresponding to a summary object associated with the first upstream node of
interest
from the first upstream node of interest to a second upstream node of
interest.
Traversing the second portion of the path includes determining whether the
target node is marked as being a node of interest, and if the target node is
determined
to be a node of interest, traversing a link corresponding to a summary object
associated with the target node from the target node to a first downstream
node of
interest, otherwise if the target node is not determined to be a node of
interest,
traversing an original path of the directed graph between the target node and
the first
downstream node of interest, including traversing one or more data
transformation
nodes or data nodes that are not designated as being of interest.
Traversing the second portion of the path further includes traversing a link
corresponding to a summary object associated with the first downstream node of
interest from the first downstream node of interest to a second downstream
node of
interest.
The one or more summary objects includes two or more summary objects,
generating the linage diagram further includes merging at least some of the
two or
more summary objects into a summary node represented by the common icon.
Merging at least some of the two or more summary objects into the summary
node includes analyzing relationships between the nodes of interest linked by
the at
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least some of the two or more summary objects to determine whether merging the
at
least some of the two or more summary objects is possible.
Analyzing relationships between the nodes of interest includes determining
that the at least some of the two or more summary objects are associated with
a
common downstream node of interest.
The designation of interest for at least some of the nodes is received from a
user.
The designation of interest for at least some of the nodes is generated by the
computing system.
The computing system generates the designation of interest for at least some
of the nodes based on a position of the at least some of the nodes relative to
a position
of other nodes designated as being of interest.
The computing system generates the designation of interest for at least some
of the nodes based on the at least some of the nodes sharing a data structure
with other
nodes designated as being of interest.
The computing system includes a plurality of separate, interconnected sub-
systems, the portions of the directed graph being distributed among at least
some of
the sub-systems.
At least some of the sub-systems are represented by the common icon.
In another aspect, in general, software is stored in a non-transitory form on
a
computer-readable medium, for managing lineage information in a computing
system,
the software including instructions for causing a computing system to:
receive, over
an input device or port, an identification of a directed graph that includes
one or more
data transformation nodes that represent computations that transform data
elements
and one or more data nodes that represent data elements, and includes directed
links
that represent respective lineage relationships between a computation and a
data
element to be received or produced by the computation during execution of the
computation; and compute, using at least one processor, summary information
based
on paths in the directed graph, and storing the summary information in one or
more
summary objects, the computing including receiving designation of interest for
a
plurality of the nodes of the directed graph; and generating one or more
summary
objects for remaining nodes not included in the plurality of nodes of
interest, first
summary object of the one or more summary objects including summary
information
based on a first path between a first node of interest and a second node of
interest that
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does include one or more of the remaining nodes and does not include any nodes
of
interest other than the first and second nodes.
In another aspect, in general, a computing system for managing lineage
information in a computing system includes: an input device or port for
receiving an
identification of a directed graph that includes one or more data
transformation nodes
that represent computations that transform data elements and one or more data
nodes
that represent data elements, and includes directed links that represent
respective
lineage relationships between a computation and a data element to be received
or
produced by the computation during execution of the computation; and at least
one
processor for computing summary information based on paths in the directed
graph,
and storing the summary information in one or more summary objects, the
computing
including receiving designation of interest for a plurality of the nodes of
the directed
graph; and generating one or more summary objects for remaining nodes not
included
in the plurality of nodes of interest, a first summary object of the one or
more
summary objects including summary information based on a first path between a
first
node of interest and a second node of interest that does include one or more
of the
remaining nodes and does not include any nodes of interest other than the
first and
second nodes.
In another aspect, in general, a computing system for managing lineage
information in a computing system including: means for receiving an
identification of
a directed graph that includes one or more data transformation nodes that
represent
computations that transform data elements and one or more data nodes that
represent
data elements, and includes directed links that represent respective lineage
relationships between a computation and a data element to be received or
produced by
the computation during execution of the computation; and means for computing,
using at least one processor, summary information based on paths in the
directed
graph, and storing the summary information in one or more summary objects, the
computing including receiving designation of interest for a plurality of the
nodes of
the directed graph; and generating one or more summary objects for remaining
nodes
not included in the plurality of nodes of interest, a first summary object of
the one or
more summary objects including summary information based on a first path
between
a first node of interest and a second node of interest that does include one
or more of
the remaining nodes and does not include any nodes of interest other than the
first and
second nodes.
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Aspects can include one or more of the following advantages.
As the complexity of data processing systems has increased, data lineage
diagrams have also become increasingly complex, presenting many data lineage
nodes (e.g., data nodes and data transformation nodes), represented by
respective
icons, in a single view. As the number of data nodes presented to a user in a
data
lineage diagram increases, the data lineage diagram may become difficult to
understand.
The approaches described herein leverage a realization that, within a given
data processing system, specific data nodes are usually of particular interest
to a user.
For example, one type of data node that is of particular interest to a user
may be any
data nodes in a lineage that are known to store a certain type of information
(e.g.,
personally identifiable information).
In the approaches described herein, sets of data lineage nodes that are not of
interest to the user and share a relevant topology with one another are
collapsed into a
summary node represented by a single icon in the data lineage diagram. The
remaining nodes in the data lineage diagram that are not included in a summary
node
are of "high interest" to the user (i.e., nodes designated as being "of
interest" as
opposed to other nodes that are not designated as being "of interest"). The
result is a
summarized data lineage diagram that shows only the details that have been
designated to be of interest to the user (or an intended audience), with any
omitted
details indicated by summary nodes in the summarized data lineage diagram.
In one aspect, in general, a data lineage diagram generation system is
configured to summarize parts of the data lineage diagrams that it displays. A
data
lineage diagram is an on-screen representation of a corresponding "data
lineage
graph" that has a particular topology and is stored in one or more data
structures
accessible to the system. An "augmented data lineage graph" that has been
augmented to store summary information in the form of "summary objects"
(describe
in more detail below) is generated after the system receives a designation of
high
interest nodes in the data lineage graph. The system uses the augmented data
lineage
graph to generate a summarized data lineage diagram for display. The
summarized
data lineage diagrams generated by the system show only high interest portions
of the
data lineage diagram and summarize low interest portions of the data lineage
diagram,
thereby reducing a complexity of the data lineage diagram.
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Among other advantages, approaches highlight high interest data lineage
nodes while suppressing low interest data lineage nodes, thereby providing a
more
understandable data lineage diagram. This may be particularly useful, for
example, if
the number of data lineage nodes that could potentially be displayed in a data
lineage
diagram is so large (e.g., thousands or millions) that they would visually
obscure the
locations of the relatively few data lineage nodes (e.g., tens or hundreds)
that are
actually of interest. Thus, the resulting summarized lineage diagram is
presented in a
way that takes into consideration the physical conditions of human perception
and
reception of information to improve the perception of relevant lineage
information
that may be of interest to a human user.
Since the described approaches display fewer data lineage nodes in
data lineage diagrams, the data lineage diagrams generated by the described
approaches are computed and displayed more quickly than the data lineage
diagrams generated by previous approaches.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the
following description, and from the claims.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computing system including a data lineage
module.
FIG. 2 is a data lineage module.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a summary link computation method.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a summarized data lineage computation method.
FIG. 5 is a first exemplary marked data lineage graph.
FIG. 6 is a first exemplary augmented data lineage graph including summary
links generated by the summary link computation method.
FIG. 7 is the first exemplary augmented data lineage graph after application
of
the method of FIG. 4.
FIG. 8 illustrates a method for summary node generation for the first
exemplary augmented data lineage graph.
FIG. 9 is a summarized data lineage diagram for the first exemplary marked
data lineage graph.
FIG. 10 is a second exemplary marked data lineage graph.
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FIG. 11 is a second exemplary augmented data lineage graph including
summary links generated by the summary link computation method.
FIG. 12 is the second exemplary augmented data lineage graph after
application of the method of FIG. 4.
FIG. 13 illustrates a method for summary node generation for the second
exemplary augmented data lineage graph.
FIG. 14 is a summarized data lineage diagram for the second exemplary
marked data lineage graph.
FIG. 15 is an exemplary data lineage report prior to data lineage
summarization.
FIG. 16 is a summarized version of the data lineage report of FIG. 15.
FIG. 17 is a portion of a summarized data lineage report including expandable
cloud icons.
FIG. 18 shows a portion of the summarized data lineage report of FIG. 17 after
expansion of one of the cloud icons.
DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 shows an example of a computing system 100 in which the data lineage
summarization techniques can be used. The system 100 includes a data source
102
that may include one or more sources of data such as storage devices or
connections
to online data streams, each of which may store or provide data in any of a
variety of
formats (e.g., database tables, spreadsheet files, flat text files, or a
native format used
by a mainframe). An execution environment 104 includes a data processing
system
112. The execution environment 104 may be hosted, for example, on a data
processing system 112 that includes one or more general-purpose computers
under the
control of a suitable operating system, such as a version of the UNIX
operating
system. For example, the data processing system 112 can include a multiple-
node
parallel computing environment including a configuration of computer systems
using
multiple central processing units (CPUs) or processor cores, either local
(e.g.,
multiprocessor systems such as symmetric multi-processing (SMP) computers), or
locally distributed (e.g., multiple processors coupled as clusters or
massively parallel
processing (MPP) systems, or remote, or remotely distributed (e.g., multiple
processors coupled via a local area network (LAN) and/or wide-area network
(WAN)), or any combination thereof.
8
Storage devices providing the data source 102 may be local to the execution
environment 104, for example, being stored on a storage medium connected to a
computer hosting the execution environment 104 (e.g., hard drive 108), or may
be
remote to the execution environment 104, for example, being hosted on a remote
system (e.g., mainframe 110) in communication with a computer hosting the
execution environment 104, over a remote connection (e.g., provided by a cloud
computing infrastructure).
The system 100 includes a development environment 118 in which a
developer is able to specify a data processing computer program 117 (e.g., a
dataflow
graph) and store the program in a data storage system 116 accessible to the
execution
environment 104. The data processing system 112 processes data from the data
source according to the computer program 117 to generate output data 114. The
output data may be 114 stored back in the data source 102 or in the data
storage
system 116, or otherwise used. The development environment 118 is, in some
implementations, a system for developing applications as dataflow graphs that
include
vertices (representing data processing components or datasets) connected by
directed
links (representing flows of work elements, i.e., data) between the vertices.
For
example, such an environment is described in more detail in U.S. Publication
No.
2007/0011668, titled "Managing Parameters for Graph-Based Applications". A
system for executing such graph-based computations is described in U.S. Patent
5,966,072, titled "EXECUTING COMPUTATIONS EXPRESSED AS GRAPHS".
Dataflow graphs made in accordance with this system provide methods for
getting
information into and out of individual processes represented by graph
components, for
moving information between the processes, and for defining a running order for
the
processes. This system includes algorithms that choose interprocess
communication
methods from any available methods (for example, communication paths according
to
the links of the graph can use TCP/IP or UNIX domain sockets, or use shared
memory
to pass data between the processes).
The system 100 includes an enterprise environment 119 through which a user
121 (e.g., an enterprise user or data architect) can request and view data
lineage
diagrams. To generate data lineage diagrams, the enterprise environment 119
includes a data lineage module 115, which is able to analyze system metadata
120
including metadata that characterizes data transformation nodes representing
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computations corresponding to different portions of the computer program 117
(e.g.,
different dataflow graphs or different components within a dataflow graph) and
metadata that characterizes data nodes accessed or generated by the computer
program 117 (e.g., datasets from the data source 102 or datasets corresponding
to the
output data 114) to generate data lineage diagrams. In some cases, the data
lineage
module 115 is also able to analyze the computer program 117 and stored data
directly
if, for example, metadata is not available or incomplete. In some
implementations,
the system 100 includes a separate storage system for such metadata.
Referring to FIG. 2, the data lineage module 115 receives system metadata
120 and one or more commands 123 from the user 121 as input and generates a
summarized data lineage diagram 122 for presentation to the user 121 as
output. The
data lineage module 115 includes a marked data lineage graph computation
module
124 and a data lineage summarization module 126. The data lineage
summarization
module 126 includes a summary link computation module 128 and a summarized
data
lineage diagram computation module 130.
In operation, the system metadata 120 received by the data lineage module
115 is provided to the marked data lineage graph computation module 124 along
with
the commands 123 from the user 121. At least some of the commands 123 from the
user 121 include an indication of a target data node for data lineage analysis
and, in
some examples an indication of one or more data nodes of high interest. Very
generally, the term "data node" as it is used in some examples herein relates
to a
dataset (e.g., a database) and/or a specific field in a dataset. In some
examples, data
nodes marked as being of high interest are generally of interest to more than
one user
of the enterprise system 119 while data nodes marked as target data nodes are
of
particular interest to a given user of the enterprise system 119 at a given
time.
The marked data lineage graph computation module 124 processes the system
metadata 120 according to the commands from the user 121 to generate a marked
data
lineage graph 125. Very generally, the marked data lineage graph 125 includes
one or
more data nodes interconnected with one or more transformation nodes by links,
which represent a dependency relationship between the nodes. The data nodes
that
the user 121 indicated as being target data nodes or data nodes of high
interest are
marked as such in the marked data lineage graph 125 (e.g., with a bull's-eye
symbol).
The marked data lineage graph 125 is provided to the data lineage
summarization module 126 where it is first provided to the summary link
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module 128. As is described in greater detail below, the summary link
computation
module 128 generates a number of summary links between the nodes that the user
121
has marked as being of high interest. The information characterizing a summary
link
is stored in a summary object. Each summary link represents a path of data
dependency between two high interest data nodes but omits any data
transformation
nodes or data nodes of low interest that exist on along the path. The summary
link
computation module 128 generates an augmented data lineage graph 127 as output
by
storing the summary objects characterizing the computed summary links within
the
data structure(s) that store the marked data lineage graph 125.
The augmented data lineage graph 127 is provided to the summarized data
lineage diagram computation module 130. As is described in greater detail
below, the
summarized link computation module 130 processes the augmented data lineage
graph 127 to generate the summarized data lineage diagram 122. To do so, the
summarized data lineage diagram computation module 130 groups nodes indicated
as
being of low interest into "summary nodes" (based on processing summary links
in
the augmented data lineage graph 127) while displaying nodes of high interest
in full
detail in the summarized data lineage diagram 122. The resulting summarized
data
lineage diagram 122 is passed out of the data lineage module 115 and provided
to the
user 121.
Referring to FIG. 3, a flow chart 300 illustrates the steps followed by the
summary link computation module 128 of FIG. 2 to generate the augmented data
lineage graph 127. In a first step 334, the marked data lineage graph 125 is
received.
The marked data lineage graph 125 is provided to a processing loop 336 which
operates on each data node in the marked data lineage graph 125 that is marked
as
being of high interest.
For each data node marked as being of high interest (designated as node 'X'),
all of its upstream neighbors (i.e., data nodes that feed data to the high
interest data
node) are added to the bottom of a list of data nodes at step 338. The data
node at the
top of the list of data nodes is then removed from the list at step 340 and
designated as
data node 'Y.' At step 342, a test determines whether data node Y is marked as
being
of high interest. If data node Y is not marked as being of high interest, then
all of data
node Y's upstream neighbors are added to the bottom of the list of data nodes
at step
344. Otherwise, if data node Y is marked as being of high interest, then a
summary
link between data node Y and data node X is stored at step 346. As is noted
above,
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the summary link summarizes a particular path of data dependency between data
node
Y and data node X by omitting any non-high interest nodes (both data nodes and
transformation nodes) along the path.
After either storing the summary link at step 346 or adding data node Y's
.. upstream neighbors at step 344, a test is performed at step 348 to
determine whether
the list of data nodes is empty. If the list is not empty then the process
loops back to
step 340, removing the next data node from the top of the list of data nodes,
designating the new data node as `Y,' and repeating the above-described steps.
Otherwise, if the list of data nodes is empty, then the process finishes at
350 and the
.. process for generating the augmented data lineage graph 127 is complete.
Referring to FIG. 4, a flow chart 451 illustrates a process followed by the
summarized data lineage diagram computation module 130 of FIG. 2 for
generating
the summarized data lineage diagram 122. In a first step 452, the target data
nodes in
the augmented data lineage graph 127 are identified. The identified target
data nodes
are then provided to a processing loop 454, which executes for each identified
target
data node in both an upstream direction and a downstream direction. Very
generally,
each iteration of the processing loop 454 traverses (i.e., walks) a path from
the target
data node to a data node at an edge of the augmented data lineage graph 127.
Traversing a path (or "walking" a path) between nodes includes examining each
node
along the path to identify any nodes along that path that have certain
properties.
Within the processing loop 454 a test is performed at step 456 to determine
whether the target data node is marked as being of high interest. If the data
node is
marked as being of high interest, then the algorithm walks a summary link
connected
to the target data node to the next data node at step 458. If the data node is
not
.. marked as being of high interest then the algorithm walks the original link
(i.e., the
non-summary link) to the next data node at step 460.
At step 462 a test is performed to determine if the algorithm has reached the
end of its walk for the target data node. If so, the links associated with the
walk for
the target data node are stored at step 464 for later use by a summarized data
lineage
diagram generation step 465. If the algorithm has not reached the end of its
walk for
the target data node, then the algorithm returns to step 456 where the above-
described
process is repeated for the next data node along the current walk from the
target data
node. As is noted above, the process described above is repeated in both an
upstream
and a downstream direction from the target data node.
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After all of the identified target data nodes are processed by the processing
loop 454, the output of the processing loop 454 is provided to the summarized
data
lineage diagram generation step 465. In general, the summarized data lineage
diagram generation step collapses summary links in the output of the
processing loop
into summary nodes to generate the summarized data lineage diagram 122. The
process for collapsing summary links into summary nodes is described in
greater
detail in the examples presented below.
The summarized data lineage diagram 122 generated by the summarized data
lineage diagram generation step 465 is displayed to the user 121 at step 466.
1 Example 1
Referring to FIG. 5, one example of a marked data lineage graph 500 includes
a number of data nodes D1-D8 and a number of data transformation nodes T1-T6.
The
data nodes and the data transformation nodes are interconnected by links 568
representing a data dependency between the nodes. In general, the links 568
are
directed in the sense that data flows in a direction from the left side of the
page to the
right side of the page. In the marked data lineage graph 500, certain data
nodes (i.e.,
D2, D3, D4, D6, and D8) are marked as being of high interest and two of the
data nodes
(i.e., D3 and D4) are marked as being target data nodes. Both of the target
data nodes
D3 and D4 are located in a container 570. In general, a container is a
structure that
represents the boundary of a system or subsystem in the computer program.
Some,
all, or none of the nodes in a given container may be of high interest to the
user 121.
Referring to both FIG. 3 and FIG. 6, when the marked data lineage graph 500
is provided to the summary link computation module 128 of FIG. 2, the
procedure
shown in FIG. 3 is applied to the marked data lineage graph to generate
summary
links SA-SG. For the sake of brevity, the application of the procedure of FIG.
3 is only
described for one of the high interest data nodes (i.e., D8) in the marked
data lineage
graph 500. However, it should be appreciated that the procedure is performed
for
each of the data nodes of high interest in the marked data lineage graph 500.
For high interest data node D8, data node D8 is first designated as 'X.' At
step
338, the upstream neighbors of X, D7 and D5, are added to a list of data
nodes. At step
340, D7 is removed from the list and is designated as 'Y.' At step 342, a test
is
performed to determine whether Y is marked as being of high interest. The test
returns the answer NO. Since the test returned NO, the procedure proceeds to
step
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344 where the upstream neighbors of Y, D3 and D4 are added to the bottom of
the list
of data nodes. At step 348 a test is performed to determine whether the list
of data
nodes is empty. The test returns the answer NO.
Since the test returned NO, the procedure loops back to step 340 where D5 is
removed from the list of data nodes and is designated as 'Y.' At step 342, a
test is
performed to determine whether Y is marked as being of high interest. The test
returns the answer `NO.' Since the test returned NO, the procedure proceeds to
step
344 where the upstream neighbor of Y, D2 is added to the bottom of the list of
data
nodes. At step 348, a test is performed to determine whether the list of data
nodes is
empty. The test returns the answer NO.
Since the test returned NO, the procedure loops back to step 340 where D3 is
removed from the list and is designated as 'Y.' At step 342, a test is
performed to
determine whether Y is marked as being of high interest. The test returns the
answer
'YES.' Since the test returned YES, the procedure proceeds to step 346 where a
summary link (SD) between Y (D3) and X (D8) is stored. At step 348, a test is
performed to determine whether the list of data nodes is empty. The test
returns the
answer NO.
Since the test returned NO, the procedure loops back to step 340 where D4 is
removed from the list and is designated as 'Y.' At step 342, a test is
performed to
determine whether Y is marked of high interest. The test returns the answer
'YES.'
Since the test returned YES, the procedure proceeds to step 346 where a
summary
link (SG) between Y (D4) and X (D8) is stored. At step 348, a test is
performed to
determine whether the list of data nodes is empty. The test returns the answer
'NO.'
Since the test returned No, the procedure loops back to step 340 where D2 is
removed from the list and is designated as 'Y.' At step 342, a test is
performed to
determine whether Y is marked as being of high interest. The test returns the
answer
'YES.' Since the test returned YES, the procedure proceeds to step 346 where a
summary link (Sc) between Y (D2) and X (D8) is stored. At step 348, a test is
performed to determine whether the list of data nodes is empty. The test
returns the
answer 'YES.'
With the list being empty, the procedure has finished computing the summary
links for the Ds data node, with the list of summary nodes for Ds being:
SD=D8D1,
SG=D8D4, and Sc=D8D2.
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The summary link computation module 128 performs the above summary link
computation procedure for all data nodes marked as being high interest in the
marked
data lineage graph 500.
Referring to FIG. 6, an augmented data lineage graph 127, including summary
links, shows that the resulting list of summary links is SA=D44D2, SB=D44D2,
Sc=D8->D2, SD=Ds4D3, SE=D64D3, SF=D64D4, and SG=D8->D4.
Referring now to both FIG. 4 and FIG. 7, the augmented data lineage graph
127 is provided to the summarized data lineage diagram computation module 130
of
FIG. 2 which applies the procedure shown in FIG. 4 to generate the summarized
data
RI lineage diagram 122. Initially, at step 452 of the procedure, the target
data nodes in
the augmented data lineage graph 127 are identified as data nodes D3 and D4.
For
each of D3 and D4, in both the upstream and downstream directions, the
procedure in
step 454 of FIG. 4 is performed. For the sake of brevity, the application of
the
procedure of FIG. 4 is only described for one of the target data nodes (i.e.,
D4) in the
augmented data lineage graph 127. However, it should be appreciated that the
procedure is performed in both the upstream and downstream directions for each
of
the target data nodes in the augmented data lineage graph 127.
For target data node D4, a test is performed at step 456 to determine whether
D4 is marked as being of high interest. The test returns an answer of "YES"
since D4
is marked as being of high interest. Since D4 is marked as being of high
interest, the
procedure proceeds to step 458 where each of the summary links connected to D4
(i.e., SA, SB, SF, SG) are 'walked.' In particular, in the downstream
direction, there are
two summary links SF and SG. Summary link SF is walked to data node D6 at step
458. At step 462 a test is performed to determine whether D6 is at the edge of
the
augmented data lineage graph 127 (i.e., the end of the walk). The test returns
an
answer of 'YES' since D6 is at the edge. Since the test returned an answer of
YES,
the walked link is stored for a use in a later summarized lineage generation
step 465 at
step 464. Similarly, summary link SG is walked to data node D8 at step 458. At
step
462, a test is performed to determine whether Ds is at the edge of the
augmented data
lineage graph 127. The test returns an answer of 'YES' since Ds is at the
edge. Since
the test returned an answer of YES, the walked link is stored for use in a
later
summarized lineage generations step 465 at step 464.
In the upstream direction, there are two summary links SA and SB. Summary
link SA is walked to data node D2 at step 458. At step 462 a test is performed
to
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determine whether D2 is at the edge of the augmented data lineage graph 127
(i.e., the
end of the walk). The test returns an answer of 'YES' since D2 is at the edge.
Since
the test returned an answer of YES, the walked link is stored for a use in a
later
summarized lineage generation step 465 at step 464. Similarly, summary link SB
is
walked to data node D2 at step 458. At step 462, a test is performed to
determine
whether D2 is at the edge of the augmented data lineage graph 127. The test
returns
an answer of 'YES' since D2 is at the edge. Since the test returned an answer
of YES,
the walked link is stored for use in a later summarized data lineage diagram
generation step 465 at step 464.
The procedure of FIG. 4 is repeated for target data node D3 resulting in
summary link Sr from D3 to D6 being walked and summary link from SD from D3 to
D8 being walked. The walked links are stored for later use by the summarized
lineage
generation step 465. Referring to FIG. 7, the augmented data lineage graph 127
shows the summary links walked by the procedure of FIG. 4 shown in bold dashed
lines.
The walked summary links stored by step 464 for target data nodes D3 and D4
are provided to step 465 which generates summary nodes from the stored summary
links. The summary nodes are provided to a data lineage display step 466 which
displays the summarized data lineage diagram 122 to the user.
Referring to FIG. 8, the summarized data lineage diagram generation step 465
receives the output of the procedure loop 454 of FIG. 4. The output of the
procedure
loop 454 includes the high interest data nodes from the marked data lineage
graph, the
target data nodes D3 and D4, and the links stored by step 464 of FIG. 4 which
in this
case happen to all be summary links. In some examples, for each summary link,
the
summarized data lineage diagram generation step 465 labels each end of the
link (i.e.,
the rightmost end and the leftmost end) with the same label (e.g., the name of
the
summary link). In this example, summary link SA has its rightmost end labeled
SA
and its leftmost end labeled as SA. Summary links SB, SD, SF, SF, and SG are
labeled
in the same way.
For each high interest data node, any summary link(s) having their rightmost
ends connected to the high interest data node are identified. If the rightmost
ends of
more than one summary link are connected to the high interest data node, then
the
rightmost ends of each summary link connected to the high interest data node
have
their respective labels replaced with a summary node label. For example, the
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rightmost ends of summary links SA and SB are connected to high interest data
node
D4. The labels for the rightmost ends of summary links SA and SB are both
replaced
with the summary node label 'X.' Similarly, the labels for the rightmost ends
of
summary links SE and SF are replaced with the summary node label 'Y' and the
labels
for the rightmost ends of summary links SD and SG are replaced with the
summary
node label 'Z.'
For each high interest data node, any summary link(s) having their leftmost
ends connected to the high interest data node are identified. For any set of
two or
more of the identified summary links which have the same summary node label
for
their rightmost ends, the labels for the leftmost ends of the summary links
are
replaced with the summary node label of the summary link's rightmost end. For
example, summary link SA and summary link SB have their leftmost ends
connected to
high interest data node D2. The labels for the rightmost ends of both SA and
SB both
assigned the summary node label 'X' (as is described above). Upon identifying
this
situation, the summarized data lineage diagram generation step 465 replaces
the labels
of the leftmost ends of summary link SA and summary link SB with the summary
node
label 'X.'
Referring to both FIGs. 8 and 9, for each unique summary node label, the
summarized data lineage diagram generation step 465 generates a summary node
corresponding to the label. For any summary links with a rightmost end having
a
given summary node label, the rightmost ends of the summary links are
collapsed into
a single output link extending out of the summary node to the appropriate high
interest data node.
For example, both summary link SA and summary link SB have their rightmost
ends labeled with summary node label 'X.' In FIG. 9, a summary node X 972 is
generated with a single output link extending from the summary node X 972 to
high
interest data node D4. The single output link represents a combination of the
rightmost end of summary link SA and the rightmost end of summary link S13.
Similarly, in FIG. 9, a summary node Y 974 is generated with a single output
link
extending to high interest data node D6. The single output link between
summary
node Y 974 and high interest data node D6 represents a combination of the
rightmost
end of summary link SE and the rightmost end of summary link SF. Also in FIG.
9, a
summary node Z 976 is generated with a single output link extending to high
interest
data node Dg. The single output link between summary node Z 976 and high
interest
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data node D8 represents a combination of the rightmost end of summary link SD
and
the rightmost end of summary link SG.
For any summary links with a leftmost end having a given summary node
label, the leftmost ends of the summary links are collapsed into a single
input link
extending into the summary node from the appropriate high interest data node.
For
example, in FIG. 8, both the leftmost end of summary link SA and the leftmost
end of
summary link SB are labeled with the summary node label 'X.' In FIG. 9, a
single
input link extends into the summary node X 972 from high interest data node
D2. The
single input link represents a combination of the leftmost end of summary link
SA and
the leftmost end of summary link SB.
Finally, for each summary link with a leftmost end having its original
summary link label, a link is generated between the data node connected to the
leftmost end of the summary link and the next component downstream from the
data
node, whether it is a high interest data node or a summary node.
As can be seen from FIG. 9, the resulting summarized data lineage diagram
122 hides low interest data nodes and data transformation nodes in summary
nodes
972, 974, 976 while preserving an overall summary of data lineage for high
interest
data nodes and target data nodes. Note that, in FIG. 9, the container 570 is
shown in
an expanded state. In some examples, when the summarized data lineage diagram
122 is displayed to the user 121, any containers including a target node are
shown in
an expanded state while any containers not including a target node are shown
in a
collapsed state.
2 Example 2
In some examples, if a target data node in the marked data lineage graph is
not
marked as being of high interest, the target data node along with the original
links
between the target data node and any neighboring data nodes of high interest
are
excluded from summarization. For example, referring to FIG. 10, a second
example
of a marked data lineage graph 1000 includes the same data nodes D1-D8, data
transformation nodes T1-T6, and links 1168 as the marked data lineage graph
500 of
FIG. 5. The marked data lineage graph 1000 of FIG. 10 differs from the marked
data
lineage graph 500 of FIG. 5 in that data node D3 is not marked as being a high
interest
data node in FIG. 10 and the marked data lineage graph of FIG. 10 has data
node D7
marked as the target data node instead of data nodes D3 and D4 as is the case
in the
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marked data lineage graph 500 of FIG. 5. Note that data node D7, while being a
marked as a target data node, is not marked as being a high interest data
node. High
interest data node D4 is located in a container 1070.
Referring to FIG. 11, when the marked data lineage graph 1000 is provided to
the summary link computation module 128 of FIG. 2, the procedure shown in FIG.
3
is applied to the marked data lineage graph to generate summary links SA-SE.
For the
sake of brevity, a detailed description of summary link generation for the
marked data
lineage graph 1000 is omitted for this second example.
Referring now to both FIGs. 4 and 12, the augmented data lineage graph 1127
is provided to the summarized data lineage diagram computation module 130 of
FIG.
2 which applies the procedure shown in FIG. 4 to generate the summarized data
lineage diagram 122. Initially, at step 452 of the procedure, the target data
node in the
augmented data lineage graph 1127 is identified as data node D7. For both the
upstream and downstream directions from D7, the procedure 454 of FIG. 4 is
performed on the augmented data lineage graph 1127.
First, at step 456, a test is performed to determine whether D7 is marked as
being of high interest. The test returns an answer of "NO" since D7 is not
marked as
being of high interest. Since D7 is not marked as being of high interest, the
procedure
proceeds to step 460 where each of the original links connected to D7 is
walked. In
particular, in the downstream direction there is a single link to walk (i.e.,
from data
node D7 to data node D8 via transformation node T6). The link from D7 to D8 is
walked and at step 462 a test is performed to determine whether D8 is at the
edge of
the augmented data lineage graph 1127 (i.e., the end of the walk). The test
returns an
answer of 'YES' since D8 is at the edge. Since the test returned an answer of
YES,
the walked original link, including the transformation node T6 is stored for
use in a
later summarized lineage generation step 465 at step 464.
In the upstream direction there are three links to walk (i.e., a first link
from
data node D7 to data node D1, a second link from data node D7 to data node D2
via
data transformation node T2, and a third link from data node D7 to data node
D2 via
data transformation T3). The procedure 454 first walks the first link. Since
D7 is not
marked as being of high interest, the procedure proceeds to step 460 and walks
the
original link to data node D3. At step 462 a test is performed to determine
whether
data node D3 is the end of the current walk. The test returns an answer of
"NO" and
the procedure loops back to step 456 which performs a step to determine
whether data
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node D3 is marked as being of high interest. The test returns an answer of
"NO" and
the procedure proceeds to step 460 which walks the original link from data
node D3 to
data node D1 via data transformation node T1. At step 462 a test is performed
to
determine whether data node DI is at the edge of the augmented data lineage
graph
1127. The test returns an answer of 'YES' since D1 is at the edge. Since the
test
returned an answer of 'YES,' the walked original link, including the
transformation
nodes T5 and T1 are stored for use in a later summarized lineage generation
step 465
at step 464.
The procedure 454 then walks the second link. Since D7 is not marked as
lo being of high interest, the procedure 454 proceeds to step 460 and walks
the original
link from data node D7 to data node D4 via data transformation node T5 at step
460.
At step 462 a test is performed to determine whether data node D4 is the end
of the
current walk. The test returns 'NO' and the procedure loops back to step 456
where a
test is performed to determine whether data node D4 is marked as being a high
interest
data node. The test returns 'YES' and the procedure proceeds to step 458 where
the
summary link SA is walked to data node D2. At step 462 a test is performed to
determine whether data node D2 is at the edge of the augmented data lineage
graph
1127. The test returns 'YES' since D2 is at the edge. Since the test returned
an
answer of 'YES,' the walked link, including the original link from D7 to D4
(including
data transformation node T5) and the summary link SA is stored for use in a
later
summarized lineage generation step 465 at step 464.
Finally, the procedure 454 walks the third link. Since D7 is not marked as
being of being interest, the procedure 454 proceeds to step 460 and walks the
original
link from data node D7 to data node D4 via data transformation node T5 at step
460.
At step 462 a test is performed to determine whether data node D4 is the end
of the
current walk. The test returns 'NO' and the procedure loops back to step 456
where a
test is performed to determine whether data node D4 is marked as being a high
interest
data node. The test returns 'YES' and the procedure proceeds to step 458 where
the
summary link SB is walked to data node D2. At step 462 a test is performed to
determine whether data node D2 is at the edge of the augmented data lineage
graph
127. The test returns 'YES' since D2 is at the edge. Since the test returned
an answer
of 'YES,' the walked link, including the original link from D7 to D4
(including data
transformation node T5) and the summary link SB is stored for use in a later
summarized lineage generation step 465 at step 464.
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The walked links stored by step 464 for target data node D7 are provided to
step 465 which generates summary nodes from the stored summary links. Step 465
then integrates the generated summary nodes with the original links stored by
step
464 to generate the summarized data lineage diagram 122. The summarized data
lineage diagram 122 is provided to a data lineage display step 466 which
displays the
summarized data lineage diagram 122 to the user.
Referring to FIG. 13, the summarized data lineage diagram generation step
465 receives the output of the procedure loop 454 of FIG. 4. The output of the
procedure loop 454 includes the high interest data nodes from the marked data
lineage
graph, the target data node D7, and the links (both summary links and original
links)
stored by step 464 of FIG. 4. As was the case in the previous example, for
each
summary link, the summarized data lineage diagram generation step 465 labels
each
end of the link (i.e., the rightmost end and the leftmost end) with the same
label (e.g.,
the name of the summary link). In this example, summary link SA has its
rightmost
end labeled SA and its leftmost end labeled as SA. Similarly, summary link SB
has its
rightmost end labeled SB and its leftmost end labeled as SB. Note that while
D1, Ti,
and T3 are part of a walked link stored by step 464, they are not included in
the
diagram of FIG. 13 since none of D1, T1, and D3 is located on a path between
two
high interest data nodes.
For each high interest data node, any summary link(s) having their rightmost
ends connected to the high interest data node are identified. If the rightmost
ends of
more than one summary link are connected to the high interest data node, then
the
rightmost ends of each summary link connected to the high interest data node
have
their respective labels replaced with a summary node label. For example, the
rightmost ends of summary links SA and SB are connected to high interest data
node
D4. The labels for the rightmost ends of summary links SA and SB are both
replaced
with the summary node label 'X.'
For each high interest data node, any summary link(s) having their leftmost
ends connected to the high interest data node are identified. For any set of
two or
more of the identified summary links which have the same summary node label
for
their rightmost ends, the labels for the leftmost ends of the summary links
are
replaced with the summary node label of the summary link's rightmost end. For
example, summary link SA and summary link SB have their leftmost ends
connected to
high interest data node D2. The labels for the rightmost ends of both SA and
SB both
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assigned the summary node label 'X' (as is described above). Upon identifying
this
situation, the summarized data lineage diagram generation step 465 replaces
the labels
of the leftmost ends of summary link SA and summary link SB with the summary
node
label 'X.'
Referring to both FIGs. 13 and 14, for each unique summary node label, the
summarized data lineage diagram generation step 465 generates a summary node
corresponding to the label. For any summary links with a rightmost end having
a
given summary node label, the rightmost ends of the summary links are
collapsed into
a single output link extending out of the summary node to the appropriate high
interest data node.
For example, both summary link SA and summary link SB have their rightmost
ends labeled with summary node label 'X.' In FIG. 14, a summary node X 1472 is
generated with a single output link extending from the summary node X 1472 to
high
interest data node D4. The single output link represents a combination of the
rightmost end of summary link SA and the rightmost end of summary link SB.
For any summary links with a leftmost end having a given summary node
label, the leftmost ends of the summary links are collapsed into a single
input link
extending into the summary node from the appropriate high interest data node.
For
example, in FIG. 13, both the leftmost end of summary link SA and the leftmost
end of
summary link SB are labeled with the summary node label 'X.' In FIG. 14, a
single
input link extends into the summary node X 1472 from high interest data node
D2.
The single input link represents a combination of the leftmost end of summary
link SA
and the leftmost end of summary link SB.
Any original links such as the link between data node D7 and data node D8 via
data transformation node T6 and the link between data node D7 and data node D4
via
data transformation node T5 are included in their original form from the
marked data
lineage graph 1000.
As can be seen from FIG. 14, the resulting summarized data lineage diagram
122 hides low interest data nodes and low interest data transformation nodes
in the X
summary node 1472 while preserving an overall summary of data lineage for high
interest data nodes and target data nodes. Note that, in FIG. 14, the
container 1070 is
shown in an expanded state. In some examples, when the summarized data lineage
diagram 122 is displayed to the user 121, the container 1070 may be shown in a
collapsed state since it does not include any target data nodes.
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3 Example 3
While the examples set forth above are useful for illustrating the lineage
summarization mechanism, it is important to note that in a real-world
implementation,
the dataflow graphs on which the lineage summarization approaches operate are
much
larger and more complex than those set forth in the examples.
For example, referring to FIG. 15, a data lineage report 1500 for an exemplary
dataflow graph includes a number of container objects 1502, some of which are
nested. Each of the container objects includes one or more dataflow graph
components 1504. A complex web of data flows 1506, interconnects the dataflow
graph components 1504. Due to large number of dataflow graph components 1504
and to the complexity of the data flows 1506 interconnecting the components
1504,
the exemplary data lineage report 1500 is an ideal candidate for data lineage
summarization.
Referring to FIG. 16, a summarized data lineage report 1600 is the result of
performing data lineage summarization on the data lineage report 1500 of FIG.
15.
The summarized data lineage report 1600 includes a number of cloud icons 1608
symbolizing summarized dataflow graph components, data flows, and container
objects. As is apparent from the figure, the summarized data lineage report
1600
includes fewer dataflow graph components and fewer data flows, resulting in a
simplified and more easily understood data lineage report.
Referring to FIG. 17, a detailed view of a portion of another example of a
summarized data lineage report 1700 shows a closer view of the cloud icons
1608,
including a first cloud icon 1710. In particular, each cloud icon 1608 is
shown to
include a hyperlink with the text "..." and to include a "+" symbol. Clicking
on either
of these aspects of a given cloud icon 1608 causes expansion of the cloud icon
1608,
revealing the data flow graph components, data flows, and container objects
that are
represented by the given cloud icon. For example, referring to FIG. 18, when a
user
clicks on the "+" symbol to expand the first cloud icon 1710, the first could
icon 1710
is expanded, showing all of the container objects, dataflow graph components,
and
data flows summarized by the first could icon 1710 in the data lineage report
1700.
Note that each component that was previously summarized by the first cloud
icon
1710 includes a smaller version of the cloud icon 1712, indicating that the
dataflow
23
graph component was previously summarized by a cloud icon (i.e., the first
cloud icon 1710).
In some examples, a summarized data lineage can be included within a lineage
diagram along with one or more other forms of lineage clarification
mechanisms. For
example, a lineage diagram can include an interactive clarification mechanism
that
dynamically responds to a user's input to collapse portions of the rendered
lineage
diagram that include nodes that are not of interest to the user. Referring
again to FIG.
17, in addition to the ability to expand (and collapse) summarized portions
represented by cloud icons 1608, a user has the ability to collapse the
container object
1502 with the uscr interface element represented by the "-" symbol 1714, and
dataset
nodes nested inside, such as the dataset node 1716, and to expand collapsed
portions
(as described in more detail in U.S. Application Serial No. 12/629,466, which
was
published as U.S. 2010/0138431, entitled "VISUALIZING RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN DATA ELEMENTS AND GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF
DATA ELEMENT ATTRIBUTES"). Another example of a clarification mechanism
that can be included is a filtering function that adds or excludes nodes from
the
lineage diagram based on tag values associated with the nodes (as described in
more
detail in U.S. Application Serial No. 62/114,684, entitled "FILTERING DATA
LINEAGE DIAGRAMS"). By combing any two of these three mechanisms, or even
all three of these mechanisms, the power to clarify the resulting lineage
diagram is
greatly increased since the mechanisms can complement each other and provide
synergistic flexibility to allow a user fine-grained control over what
portions of a data
lineage diagram are rendered.
The different clarification mechanisms can be used simultaneously, and each
mechanism enables a user to have explicit control on whether that particular
mechanism is applied to a particular portion of the lineage. For example, on
the left
side of a lineage diagram, a user may expand a container object that contains
within it
a cloud object, which the user may or may not expand, and on the right side
the user
may expand a cloud object that contains within it a container object, which
the user
may or may not expand. This fine-grained control can be applied recursively in
different portions of the lineage diagram, with the system dynamically
rendering an
updated lineage diagram based on the user's interaction. The filtering can
also be
controlled at a fine-grained level by limiting the filtering to be applied to
only selected
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portions of the lineage diagram. Also, clarification mechanisms other than
these three
examples can also be included for even further control. For example, the
rendering of
a lineage diagram can be selected limited to only a maximum radius (in terms
of hops
from a target node), or rendered successive hops at a time, under user
control.
4 Federation of Metadata
In some examples, the lineage summarization approaches described above can
be used to simplify a presentation of federated metadata. For example, certain
organizations have a number of individual repositories for maintaining
metadata. A
central repository is used to manage at least some of the metadata that is
distributed
across the individual repositories. In some examples, one of the individual
repositories is designated as the central repository. In other examples, a
separate
entity is designated as the central repository.
In general, the central repository manages corporate assets (e.g., a corporate
glossary or other corporate assets) and distributes the corporate assets among
the
individual repositories, as needed. By having corporate assets managed at a
central
repository, consistency of the corporate assets, including corporate
terminology is
maintained across the organization.
Certain high level users can obtain a high level data lineage diagram using
the
central repository, the high level data lineage diagram including all of the
metadata
lineages of the individual repositories combined into a single data lineage
diagram.
To generate such a high level data lineage diagram, the central repository
retrieves
metadata from multiple of the individual repositories and combines the
retrieved
metadata.
The data lineage summarization approaches described above can be used to
group portions of individual repositories or entire individual repositories
into
summary nodes, indicating that the grouped portions are of low interest to the
user. In
some examples, the metadata lineage for the grouped portions is not retrieved
from
the individual repositories until the user expands the summary node for the
group,
indicating interest in the lineage for the individual repositories.
5 Alternatives
In some examples, all nodes in a marked data lineage graph are initially
marked as being of low interest. The user then selectively (e.g., either
through a user
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interface or programmatically), designates certain data nodes as being of high
interest.
In some examples, approaches automatically mark a node in a data lineage as
being of
high interest based on relationships between the node and other nodes in the
data
lineage. For example, if the node is in the same dataset as a node of high
interest,
then the node may be marked as high interest as well. In some examples,
certain
nodes may be marked as high interest due to their relative position with
respect to
nodes of high interest in the data lineage. For example, certain nodes
adjacent to a
node of high interest may also be marked as being of high interest.
In some examples, users classify each data node into one of two categories:
"detailed" (i.e., a low interest node that is only displayed in a detailed
view of a data
lineage diagram), or "summarized" (i.e., a high interest node that is
displayed in both
the a detailed view and a summarized view of a data lineage diagram). In some
examples, the categories that determine whether a node is of low interest or
high
interest are based on categories that characterize the nature of the item that
the node
represents, such as "system architecture" or "regulatory".
In some examples, to identify collections of low interest data nodes within a
topology, the data nodes are collapsed regardless of any hierarchy among the
data
nodes. A rule is implemented requiring that there be a single set of low
interest nodes
per output dataset. In some examples, the sets may include duplicative
elements. In
some examples, the summary nodes are associated with the physical/logical
group
associated with a single output data node. In other examples, a summary node
is
associated with a physical/logical group that contains the most low interest
data nodes
if there are no nodes of low interest associated with physical/logical group
of output
nodes.
In some examples, summary nodes are represented in a data lineage diagram
by cloud icons. In other examples, other types of summary node icons are used.
In
some examples, a summary node displays little or no information about its
contents.
In other examples, summary nodes display a limited amount of information about
their contents (e.g., the number of nodes included therein, the number of
systems
included therein, and so on). In some examples a user can click a link in a
summary
node to display an information bubble for the summarized section of the
lineage. The
user can then expand each summarized section to view expanded details about
the
summary node. In some examples, when a user expands a summarized section of
the
data lineage diagram, the original links summarized by the summary links and
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associated with the summarized section of the data lineage diagram are walked
to
determine a data lineage diagram for the summarized section of the data
lineage
diagram. The data lineage diagram of the summarized section is then displayed
to the
user. The user can then click the expanded details to revert to the summarized
lineage.
That is, the user is allowed to drill down to details (i.e., expand the
summary node)
and re-collapsing on a per summary node basis. In this way, the user can
navigate to
specific details if they choose to do so.
6 Implementations
The data lineage summarization approaches described above can be
implemented, for example, using a programmable computing system executing
suitable software instructions or it can be implemented in suitable hardware
such as a
field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or in some hybrid form. For example, in a
programmed approach the software may include procedures in one or more
computer
programs that execute on one or more programmed or programmable computing
system (which may be of various architectures such as distributed,
client/server, or
grid) each including at least one processor, at least one data storage system
(including
volatile and/or non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one
user
interface (for receiving input using at least one input device or port, and
for providing
output using at least one output device or port). The software may include one
or
more modules of a larger program, for example, that provides services related
to the
design, configuration, and execution of dataflow graphs. The modules of the
program
(e.g., elements of a dataflow graph) can be implemented as data structures or
other
organized data conforming to a data model stored in a data repository.
The software may be provided on a tangible, non-transitory medium, such as a
CD-ROM or other computer-readable medium (e.g., readable by a general or
special
purpose computing system or device), or delivered (e.g., encoded in a
propagated
signal) over a communication medium of a network to a tangible, non-transitory
medium of a computing system where it is executed. Some or all of the
processing
may be performed on a special purpose computer, or using special-purpose
hardware,
such as coprocessors or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or dedicated,
application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The processing may be
implemented
in a distributed manner in which different parts of the computation specified
by the
software are performed by different computing elements. Each such computer
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program is preferably stored on or downloaded to a computer-readable storage
medium (e.g., solid state memory or media, or magnetic or optical media) of a
storage
device accessible by a general or special purpose programmable computer, for
configuring and operating the computer when the storage device medium is read
by
the computer to perform the processing described herein. The inventive system
may
also be considered to be implemented as a tangible, non-transitory medium,
configured with a computer program, where the medium so configured causes a
computer to operate in a specific and predefined manner to perform one or more
of
the processing steps described herein.
A number of embodiments of the invention have been described.
Nevertheless, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is
intended to
illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by
the scope of
the following claims. Accordingly, other embodiments are also within the scope
of
the following claims. For example, various modifications may be made without
departing from the scope of the invention. Additionally, some of the steps
described
above may be order independent, and thus can be performed in an order
different
from that described.
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